Apparatuses of this type for the connection of pipes, particularly in exhaust lines of motor vehicles with pressed metal wire damping or absorbing cushions located in casings are known from EP-A-208 128 or U.S. Pat. No. 4,657,117.
Abutments provided on both end faces of the casing receiving the damping or absorbing cushion or pad are connected to the same connection end of the apparatus for the flexible connection of pipes, in short a decoupling element, while an abutment is connected to the other end with the abutment engaging, which engages approximately centrally between two cushions arranged in axially succeeding manner or in a radial recess of a single cushion.
It has been shown that in the known apparatuses and decoupling elements the damping cushions only function with a very small part of their volume, namely where the forces are directly introduced, whereas most of the volume remains undisturbed. Thus, the cushions are overdimensioned, this in particular being necessary due to the central engagement of the abutment connected to one connecting end. The cushions are also exposed to corrosive influences, because the casing cannot be completely closed, namely either within the flow path to the hot exhaust gases, or outside said flow path to dirt, wet and salt. It has also been found that in particular that part of the cushions which does not or only slightly functions during normal operating conditions hardens or becomes encrusted, so that the dynamic characteristics present in the new state are subject to disadvantageous changes.
As a result of the indicated overdimensioning the known damping or absorbing apparatuses and decoupling elements took up a large amount of space, either in the radial, or in the axial direction.